Rothenberg sentenced 25 years to life under three-strike law

Published 12:02 pm, Wednesday, April 4, 2007

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** FILE ** This is a photo taken June 15, 2001 of Charles Rothenberg also known as Charley Charles, supplied by the San Francisco Police Department via the San Francisco Chronicle. Rothenberg, who served time for setting his son on fire two decades ago, will not be sentenced to life in prison on a handgun charge after a judge ruled Thursday, April 28, 2005, that one of his previous convictions should not count under California's tough three-strikes law. (AP Photo/San Francisco Police Department) less

** FILE ** This is a photo taken June 15, 2001 of Charles Rothenberg also known as Charley Charles, supplied by the San Francisco Police Department via the San Francisco Chronicle. Rothenberg, who served time ... more

Rothenberg sentenced 25 years to life under three-strike law

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2007-04-04 12:02:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A man who doused his 6-year-old son with kerosene and attempted to burn him to death in 1983 was sentenced today to 25 years to life for two weapons convictions in San Francisco.

Charley Charles, now 66, was sentenced under the state's three-strike law.

Earlier this year, a state appeals court ruled that Superior Court Judge Cynthia Ming-Mei Lee was wrong when she ruled in 2005 that she could not sentence Charles as a third-striker. Lee ruled today that the arson and attempted murder convictions are in fact two strikes, and that the two convictions for possessing weapons are a third strike.

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In an unrelated case, Charles -- formerly known as Charles Rothenberg -- was charged with credit card fraud in San Francisco County. The state Attorney General is also pursuing a case against Charles for threatening Cheryl Matthews, the prosecutor in the weapons case.

"I believe justice has been done, thank goodness," Matthews said after today's hearing.

Public defender Gabriel Bassan, who has defended Charles since 2001, said he would appeal the decision.

The case was sent back to the lower court because the appeals court, instead of imposing a 25 year to life sentence itself, ordered a new sentencing hearing in San Francisco Superior Court.

Charles gained notoriety in 1983 after he took his son to an Orange County motel, drugged him with at least one sleeping pill, doused him with kerosene and set him on fire. The incidence came after a custody dispute with his wife, and left his son badly disfigured.

Charles was released in 1990 after serving half of his 13-year sentence and was paroled to Oakland. He later moved to San Francisco -- and after another arrest and a jailhouse reunion with his son -- changed his name to Charley Charles in 1998.

He was arrested in June 2001 and later convicted of being a felon in possession of a handgun and in possession of 44 rounds of ammunition. In April 2005, he was sentenced to seven years and four months in state prison

Charles said he bought the handgun for protection after he claimed someone shot at him on Market Street in 1995.

Charles is also accused of credit card fraud and of using a jail telephone three times in 2005 to make threats against Matthews. The convict has a phone in his cell and is housed alone for protection against other inmates who are aware of the 1983 case.

During the weapons case, the judge had ruled that prosecutors could not invoke California's three strikes law for repeat offenders. She said that the 1983 convictions -- attempted murder and arson -- could not be counted as two individual strikes because they arose from the same incident.

An appeals court, however, ruled in January that they were both strikes because they involved multiple acts and multiple victims -- his son and the motel owner.